Friday, 23 April 2010

Nelson Bay Quilters Biennial Show: 22-27 April

Colour of the Bay, the biennial show of Nelson Bay Quilters is on this weekend 22-27 April 2010:

Colour of the Bay Quilt Show
Port Stephen Community Centre
Shoal Bay Road, Nelson Bay
Opening Hours:  10am - 4pm

Featuring quilt displays, craft items and some quilts for sale.

Wednesday, 21 April 2010

Hexagon Madness - Old and New: 24 April 2-4pm

Join many other hexagon lovers at the Powerhouse Museum to pour over antique hexagon quilts, be enthralled by the many modern interpretations of the hexagon and to learn more. We hope to have several quilts from well-known quilt makers for you to see up close.

This event organised by the Quilt Study Group (part of The Quilters' Guild of NSW Inc.) will be held in the Powerhouse Learning Centre on Saturday 24th April 2010 from 2pm to 4pm.
Bring along any of your hexie quilts, old or new, for us to see. Entry is free for Guild members and afternoon tea will be provided. Access to the Powerhouse Museum is via the walkway over from Chinatown or by walking from Central Station. (See the Powerhouse Museum transport page for details.)

If you contact the event owner, Sandra Lyons on 9589 2537 beforehand it is possible to arrange for car parking in the Powerhouse's parking area for disabled drivers. Or you can use the drop off area near the entrance to the car park which provides easy access to Level 2 where our events are held.

Monday, 19 April 2010

Calling All Blogging Members

Are you a current member of the Quilters Guild of NSW? Do you keep a blog with a focus on quiltmaking and other creative endeavours? If so, you are welcome to send a request to the Guild Webmaster for your blog to be added to the Member Blog Roll that can be found in the sidebar of this blog and on the Cyberspace links page on the Guild website. The webmaster will be updating these listings shortly.

Sunday, 18 April 2010

Public Lecture: Dorothy Caldwell: 29 April 7-9pm

Textile artist Dorothy Caldwell speaks at the College of Fine Arts in Sydney - Out of the Ordinary: Textiles in the Everyday.

When: 7 pm Thursday April 29 2010
Where: COFA Main Lecture Theatre, EG02
             Cnr Oxford Street & Greens Rd,
             Paddington, Sydney,
Cost: Free and open to the public


One of the wonderful qualities of cloth is that it wears out, breaks down and is continuously being re-made into something new. Stitching, mending and patching create a surface of unintended beauty and the sense of “lives lived”. It is from these ordinary practices that Dorothy Caldwell has developed the vocabulary of marks that she uses in the making of her large fabric constructions. The talk will address this aspect of traditional textiles and how it has been used as a basis for Caldwell’s work.

Dorothy Caldwell is a graduate of Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and maintains an active international exhibition and teaching schedule. She has carried out research in Japan, India, and Australia on textile traditions and is the recipient of grants and awards including the prestigious Bronfman Award given to one Canadian craftsperson each year. Her work is included in many permanent collections including the American Museum of Art and Design, Canadian Museum of Civilization, The Carlton and Reta Lewis Collection in Washington D.C., The Canadian Consulate Bangkok Thailand, and the International Quilt Museum and Study Center University of Nebraska.

Dorothy is visiting Australia at the invitation of The Australian Forum for Textile Arts and teaching at their Orange Forum (NSW) in April.

Saturday, 17 April 2010

Teacher Accreditation Information Day: 8 May 2010

Do you teach Patchwork and Quilting? Are you interested in becoming an accredited teacher with The Quilters' Guild of NSW Inc?
Come and join the members of the Teacher Accreditation sub-committee and some accredited teachers at the Guild office on Saturday 8th May 2010.
This is an excellent opportunity to find out more about the process of becoming an accredited teacher, to ask questions and to share any concerns you may have about the program in an informal gathering.
Time: 10am to 4pm. A sandwich lunch will be provided. Cost $10. Bookings are essential.

For more information please phone Amanda Daly 9654 9463

Friday, 16 April 2010

Sydney Quilt Show 2010 Update

289 entries from over 200 individual and group members have been received for the 2010 Sydney Quilt Show.  ALL valid entries have been accepted. Formal acceptance letters with important details about the delivery of your quilts will be posted out at the beginning of May. In the meantime, keep on putting the finishing details on your quilts. We look forward to a great show!

Wednesday, 14 April 2010

The New Quilt 2010: Selected Artists

The New Quilt 2010 will take place at the Manly Art Gallery and Museum from 18 June until 25 July 2010 and there will be a colour catalogue generously sponsored by Brother International Australia.


Congratulations to the following textile artists whose work has been selected for The New Quilt 2010, a juried exhibition of contemporary quilt textiles presented by the Guild in partnership with the Manly Art Gallery & Museum:

Saturday, 10 April 2010

1000 Artisan Textiles

Congratulations to Guild members  Sue Dennis and Brenda Gael Smith who each have two quilts featured in the new book 1000 Artisan Textiles :


1000 Artisan Textiles features artisan-made examples of quilts, wall hangings, linens, rugs, baskets, wearable art, home accessories, and fashion accessories; incorporating a number of techniques including felting, hand and machine embroidery, appliqué, dyeing and fabric painting, weaving, beading, and all types of surface decoration.

Other Australian textile artists featured in the book include: Elizabeth Armstrong, Gill Brooks, Heather Crossley, Ruth deVos, Penny Eamer, Jette Ford, Jody Pearl Lange, Carol McGill, Sharron Shalekoff, Tricia Smout, Svenja and Daniela Tommasi.

Friday, 9 April 2010

Away Meeting at Wagga Wagga: 10 April 2010

The annual "away" or country meeting is tomorrow 10 April 2010, 1.30pm at the ARCC Hall, Tarcutta Street, Wagga Wagga. Judy Hall from Punch with Judy is the guest speaker and there will be a HUGE Show & Tell event.  All welcome!

Wednesday, 7 April 2010

1930s Quilts Event Report

On the 27th February 2010 at the Powerhouse Museum, Jennie Burton gave the Quilt Study Group of NSW members and friends a 30 minute talk about 1930s quilts. She brought along some 1930s quilts, quilt tops and feed sacks from her collection for us to see. She told us that she is drawn to these quilts for their colourful scrappiness and put the making of these quilts into historical perspective, referring to the influence of the depression years of the 1930s, changes in fabric dyes, the mass production of bed coverings and then the revival of quilt making between the wars.

During the Depression the number of advertisements, patterns and articles about quilts in newspapers increased so that many women had scrapbooks containing planned quilts (not dissimilar to us now). Popular patterns included the Dresden Plate, Butterfly, Grandmother’s Flower Garden, Sunbonnet Sue, and Double Wedding Ring because they all involved using up fabric scraps. “Use up, wear out, make do or do without” was the motto for these women. Quilting in the 1930s also provided a way for some to make money by designing quilt patterns, making and selling quilts and quilt kits and by winning prizes at quilt shows. Quilts were also a softer side of the Great Depression and the importance of sewing and quilting bees took the quilters’ minds off their troubles.

The feed sacks, which provided cheap fabric for the 1930s quilts, were originally made from plain calico and were hand sewn by the farmers with hand written labels. Later they were sewn by machine and had pre-printed labels that had to be soaked off in order to use them. The feed sack bag and sack manufacturers then came up with the idea of using patterned fabrics thus leading to their use in making curtains, dresses, quilts and even underwear. The finer grades of feed sacks were used for holding sugar or flour, the coarser ones for corn or chicken feed. Now they are discovering whole attics full of feed sacks which are coming onto the market.


Jennie then showed us some American feed sacks which prompted Annette Gero to show us her Australian feed sack. Among the many wonderful quilts from Jennie’s collection we saw one unusual quilt with black baskets, another with a yellow background and a vibrant ‘Trip Around the World’ quilt with such perfectly matching fabric that she believes it could only have been from a quilt kit.

Monday, 5 April 2010

Feature Display Quilts @ Sydney Royal Easter Show

The Royal Agricultural Society of NSW and the Quilters' Guild of NSW Inc are showcasing patchwork and quilting as the feature display in the Arts Pavillion at the 2010 Royal Easter Show. In addition to the quilts entered in the show, there will be a display in the centre of the pavillion and demonstrations of different quilting techniques. The Royal Easter Show continues until Wednesday 14 April 2010. Come along and say hello!

Friday, 2 April 2010

Lisa Walton Jewel Pearce Patterson International Quilt Teacher Scholarship 2010

Congratulations to Guild member Lisa Walton who has been awarded the Jewel Pearce Patterson International Quilt Teacher Scholarship, Houston, USA for 2010.

Jewel Pearce Patterson was one of the founders of Quilts, Inc. and the mother of Karey Bresenhan who is the current president of this organization. Quilts Inc. sponsors three major quilt festivals and two quilt markets each year. In 1990, this organization developed a scholarship for quilting teachers and one teacher is chosen for this prestigious award. This year is even more special as it would have been the 100th birthday of Jewel Patterson and Lisa feels especially honoured.

The scholarship covers airfare and accommodation and a full program of workshops at the 2010 Houston Quilt Market and Festival and is an opportunity of a lifetime. In 2011 Lisa will be required to mount an exhibition of her work and that of her students at the Houston Quilt Festival and it also travels to the other Festivals. What an extraordinary opportunity to show her work to so many people.

Thursday, 1 April 2010

The Fabric of Society Exhibition: 3 April-25 July

The Fabric of Society
Australia’s Quilt Heritage from Colonial Times to 1960
Saturday 3 April to Sunday 25 July 2010

Australia’s history is retold through patchwork quilts in this exhibition drawn from national, state and private collections. The fabric scraps, patterns and needlework conjure memories of past times and allow an examination of the social histories of countless ordinary and some extraordinary people which would otherwise never have been told—Governor’s wives, wealthy shop owners, farmer’s wives, gold rush immigrants, prisoners of war, and all the mums that made their children’s clothes and never threw anything away.

This exhibition includes rare and unique quilts displayed with contextual photographs and period furniture and has been curated exclusively for the Ipswich Art Gallery by Australian Quilt Historian Dr Annette Gero.

IPSWICH ART GALLERY│EXHIBITION GALLERY
d’Arcy Doyle Place, Nicholas Street│Ipswich CBD Qld 4305
T│(07) 3810 7222 W│www.ipswichartgallery.qld.gov.au
OPEN 7 DAYS 10am-5pm│Entry by gold coin donation


Roebuck chintz quilt (detail) c.1860
Henrietta Maria, Margaret & Lizzie Roebuck
Chintz printed cotton, hand-pieced and appliquéd, unlined, 240 x 240cm. Private collection

Thursday, 25 March 2010

SKINT! Making do in the Great Depression: 27 March - 25 July

A new exhibition SKINT! Making do in the Great Depression opens on 27 March at the Museum of Sydney and for Seniors Week, during the weekend of 27 & 28 March, seniors receive free admission to the exhibition.

Skint! Making do in the Great Depression explores the spirit and flavour of life in Sydney in the 1930s: the community spirit and political activism, everyday life and key events and personalities of the period. It brings together evocative images, objects, oral histories and film to help us understand the story of Sydney in the Great Depression.

Quilt historian, Dr Annette Gero will be talking about waggas at the Museum of Sydney on Sunday, 18 April from 2-3pm..

Monday, 22 March 2010

PETITE - Call for Proposals

Artists working in TEXTILES or FIBRE are invited to submit proposals for artwork to be included in the exhibition PETITE Miniature TEXTILES to be shown in the Gallery WORKSHOP SPACE @ Wangaratta exhibitions Gallery 12 June - 11 July 2010

Proposal Requirements

  • Artists may submit up to 3 works for selection. Entry is free
  • Works must not exceed 30x30x30cm in size but may be smaller
  • Submissions must include a CV or brief artist’s biography and Jpeg files or photographs of the works for selection
  • Include title/s, medium, dimensions, price including 20% commission
  • Submissions must be received by 5pm Friday 14 May 2010. All submissions will be subject to a selection process
  • Artists will be notified of the selection by 21/5/10
  • Selected works must be delivered to the Gallery by Monday 7 June or by prior arrangement. Artists are responsible for all delivery transport or postage costs
  • Artworks will be returned by Express Post at the conclusion of the exhibition on 12/7/10

For more information contact the Exhibitions Officer on 03 57220761 or
gallery@wangaratta.vic.gov.au

Wednesday, 17 March 2010

2010 World Quilt Competition

Australian traditional and contemporary quilters have the opportunity to enter the 2010 World Quilt Competition and have their work tour in the United States from August to November.

The World Quilt Competition entries will premier at the World Quilt Show New England in Manchester, New Hampshire and then be exhibited at the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza XVII, the Pacific International Quilt Festival XIX in Santa Clara, California and the World Quilt Show Florida in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Innovative & traditional entries compete for a range of awards with cash prizes. These include Best of World, Traditional first, second and third, Innovative first, second and third, Best Use of Colour, Best Hand Workmanship, Best Machine Workmanship, Best of Country if the country has 10 entries and Viewer’s Choice. In 2009 Australian Linda Steele received the Best of Country with her quilt “Crazy about Spring”.

Down load the 2010 World Quilt Entry form or send a business size SSAE to World Quilt & Textile coordinator Sue Dennis at31 Shelley St, Sunnybank 4109 QLD. Deadline for entry submission is May 17, 2010. Entries are juried in the USA. Notification of entry success is by June 16 and accepted quilts must be delivered to the coordinator by July 7. Quilts are returned to exhibitors late December.
Sue Dennis
info@suedennis.com
Australian World Quilt & Textile coordinator

Monday, 15 March 2010

Machine Quilting Workshop: 12 & 13 August 2010

This workshop with Deborah Louie will be for advanced beginners and intermediate machine quilters at the Campbelltown Arts Centre on 12 and 13 August 2010 (Thursday/Friday) Beginner machine quilters will not be accepted. Maximum bookings will be 12/13 participants. Minimum bookings 10.

You must have your own machine. The boom gate can be opened on request for easy access, if required. Set up time is 9.30am. The tutor will start promptly at 10.00am. Tutoring will finish at 3.30pm. Gallery closes at 4.00. Lunch time will be at the tutor’s discretion. There is a cafe on the premises. Tea/coffee/soft drink and biscuits will be available all day. Please bring your own cup.

Workshop fees are $55.00 per day for members and $70.00 for non members. Two members of a member group may attend at the member's price. Book now to reserve your place. Download booking form or contact the office on (02) 9283 3737. Full payment confirms your place in a workshop.

Wednesday, 10 March 2010

Twelve by Twelve Burwood Presentation: 22 May 2010


Twelve by Twelve group blog
Come along to the Burwood meeting on Saturday, 22 May 2010 to see Brenda Smith's presentation about the Twelve by Twelve Collaborative Art Quilt Project. 12x12 inches (30x30cm) is a remarkably versatile format and you are invited to bring along your own 12x12in quilt to share in a mini-exhibition for the meeting. This can be a quilt already in your collection or you are welcome to follow along with the next Twelve by Twelve Colourplay challenge - Kilauea , a palette inspired by the volcanos of Hawaii.

You can view all 144 quilts from the Twelve by Twelve Theme Series at the following forthcoming exhibitons:

Monday, 8 March 2010

The New Quilt 2010:Entries close on 19 March

The New Quilt is a biennial juried exhibition of contemporary quilt textiles presented by the Guild in partnership with the Manly Art Gallery & Museum in which many of our country’s finest quiltmakers have shown their work since 1991.

The New Quilt 2010 will take place at the Manly Art Gallery and Museum from 18 June until 25 July 2010 and there will be a colour catalogue generously sponsored by Brother International Australia.


Entry is open to all quiltmakers regardless of whether or not they are Guild members. The closing date for entries is 19 March 2010. For further information:

Download The New Quilt 2010 Entry Form (84KB)
or contact the Guild office or Pamela Fitzsimons.

Sunday, 7 March 2010

2010 AQS Paducah Semi-Finalists

Congratulations to Esther Aliu, Jenny Bacon, Susan Campbell, Lisa Walton and any other Guild members who have been selected as semifinalists in the 2010 American Quilters' Society Quilt Show & Contest at Paducah. Here is the full list of 2010 semi-finalists.

Ocean Dreaming (detail) by Lisa Walton
Ocean Dreaming (detail) by Lisa Walton